Fiberglass binders have a variety of uses ranging from stiffening applications where the binder is applied to woven or non-woven fiberglass sheet goods and cured, producing a stiffer product; thermo-forming applications wherein the binder resin is applied to sheet or lofty fibrous product following which it is dried and optionally B-staged to form an intermediate but yet curable product; and to fully cured systems such as building insulation.
Fibrous glass insulation products generally comprise matted glass fibers bonded together by a cured thermoset polymeric material. Molten streams of glass are drawn into fibers of random lengths and blown into a forming chamber where they are randomly deposited as a mat onto a traveling conveyor. The fibers, while in transit in the forming chamber and while still hot from the drawing operation, are sprayed with an aqueous binder. A phenol-formaldehyde binder is currently used throughout the fibrous glass insulation industry. The residual heat from the glass fibers and the flow of air through the fibrous mat during the forming operation are generally sufficient to volatilize the majority to all of the water from the binder, thereby leaving the remaining components of the binder on the fibers as a viscous or semi-viscous high solids liquid. The coated fibrous mat is transferred to a curing oven where heated air, for example, is blown through the mat to cure the binder and rigidly bond the glass fibers together.
Fiberglass binders used in the present sense should not be confused with matrix resins which are an entirely different and non-analogous field of art. While sometimes termed "binders", matrix resins act to fill the entire interstitial space between fibers, resulting in a dense, fiber reinforced product where the matrix must translate the fiber strength properties to the composite, whereas "binder resins" as used herein are not space-filling, but rather coat only the fibers, and particularly the junctions of fibers. Fiberglass binders also cannot be equated with paper or wood product "binders" where the adhesive properties are tailored to the chemical nature of the cellulosic substrates. Many such resins, e.g. urea/formaldehyde and resorcinol/formaldehyde resins, are not suitable for use as fiberglass binders. One skilled in the art of fiberglass binders would not look to cellulosic binders to solve any of the known problems associated with fiberglass binders.
Binders useful in fiberglass insulation products generally require a low viscosity in the uncured state, yet characteristics so as to form a rigid thermoset polymeric mat for the glass fibers when cured. A low binder viscosity in the uncured state is required to allow the mat to be sized correctly. Also, viscous binders tend to be tacky or sticky and hence they lead to accumulation of fiber on the forming chamber walls. This accumulated fiber may later fall onto the mat causing dense areas and product problems. A binder which forms a rigid matrix when cured is required so that a finished fiberglass thermal insulation product, when compressed for packaging and shipping, will recover to its specified vertical dimension when installed in a building.
From among the many thermosetting polymers, numerous candidates for suitable thermosetting fiber-glass binder resins exist. However, binder-coated fiberglass products are often of the commodity type, and thus cost becomes a driving factor, generally ruling out such resins as thermosetting polyurethanes, epoxies, and others. Due to their excellent cost/performance ratio, the resins of choice in the past have been phenol/formaldehyde resins. Phenol/formaldehyde resins can be economically produced, and can be extended with urea prior to use as a binder in many applications. Such urea-extended phenol/formaldehyde binders have been the mainstay of the fiberglass insulation industry for years.
Over the past several decades however, minimization of volatile organic compound emissions (VOCs) both on the part of the industry desiring to provide a cleaner environment, as well as by Federal regulation, has led to extensive investigations into not only reducing emissions from the current formaldehyde-based binders, but also into candidate replacement binders, For example, subtle changes in the ratios of phenol to formaldehyde in the preparation of the basic phenol/formaldehyde resole resins, changes in catalysts, and addition of different and multiple formaldehyde scavengers, has resulted in considerable improvement in emissions from phenol/formaldehyde binders as compared with the binders previously used, However, with increasingly stringent Federal regulations, more and more attention has been paid to alternative binder systems which are free from formaldehyde.
One such candidate binder system employs polymers of acrylic acid as a first component, and a polyol such as glycerine or a modestly oxyalkylated glycerine as a curing or "crosslinking" component. The preparation and properties of such poly(acrylic acid)-based binders, including information relative to the VOC emissions, and a comparison of binder properties versus urea formaldehyde binders is presented in "Formaldehyde-Free Crosslinking Binders For Non-Wovens", Charles T. Arkins et al., TAPPI JOURNAL, Vol. 78, No. 11, pages 161-168, November 1995. The binders disclosed by the Arkins article, appear to be B-stageable as well as being able to provide physical properties similar to those of urea/formaldehyde resins. Unfortunately, urea/formaldehyde resins do not in general offer the same properties as phenol/formaldehyde resins, the most widely used fiberglass insulation binder resins.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,340,868 discloses fiberglass insulation products cured with a combination of a polycarboxy polymer, a .beta.-hydroxyalkylamide, and an at least trifunctional monomeric carboxylic acid such as citric acid. The specific polycarboxy polymers disclosed are poly(acrylic acid) polymers.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,318,990 discloses a fibrous glass binder which comprises a polycarboxy polymer, a monomeric trihydric alcohol and a catalyst comprising an alkali metal salt of a phosphorous-containing organic acid.
Published European Patent Application EP 0 583 086 Al appears to provide details of polyacrylic acid binders whose cure is catalyzed by a phosphorus-containing catalyst system as discussed in the Arkins article previously cited. European Published Application EP 0 651 088 Al contains a related disclosure pertaining to cellulosic substrate binders. The fiber-glass binders of EP '086 are partially neutralized polycarboxy polymers and hydroxyl-functional curing agents wherein the polycarboxy polymers are prepared in presence of sodium hypophosphite, incorporating the latter into the polymer structure or by incorporating sodium hypophosphite separately into the curable mixture of polycarboxy polymers to serve as the curing catalyst. Polymers of acrylic acid and maleic acid are exemplified, but appear to reduce both dry and wet tensile strength as compared to poly(acrylic acid) catalyzed with sodium hypophosphite. Higher molecular weight poly(acrylic acids) are stated to provide polymers exhibiting more complete cure. See also U.S. Pat. No. 5,661,213.
Further, as Arkins indicates, the normal cure temperature of the acrylic binder resins is approximately 180.degree. C., and a final cure does not take place without prolonged heating at this temperature or by allowing the temperature to rise to the range of 220.degree. C. to 240.degree. C. The combination of curing temperature and cure time necessitates thermal energy requirements considerably in excess of what is normally desirable for phenol/formaldehyde resins. While it might seem that a simple increase in oven temperature could provide the additional thermal energy required, it must be remembered that in a commercial setting, the exceptionally large ovens, powerful heat supplies, and ancillary equipment must all be changed if a binder with higher thermal energy curing requirements is to be used. These changes are not minimal, and represent a considerable financial investment, in many cases requiring significant additional furnace length. Moreover, it is highly likely that for a considerable period of time at least, a variety of binder resins may be used on the same line at different times. Thus, any change made to the curing ovens must be easily reversible. Thus, poly(acrylic acid) binder systems having curing energy requirements similar to those of phenol/formaldehyde binders would be desirable.
While some polycarboxy polymers have been found useful for making fiberglass insulation products, problems have been observed in the processing of the products. Clumping or sticking of the glass fibers to the inside of the forming chambers during the processing has been one major problem for non-phenol formaldehyde binders. As well, it is important that the final product exhibit the recovery and rigidity necessary to provide a commercially acceptable fiberglass insulation product.
Accordingly, it is an objective of the present invention to provide a non-phenol formaldehyde binder.
Yet another object of the present invention is to provide such a binder which allows one to prepare fiberglass insulation products with minimal processing difficulties.
Still another object of the present invention is to provide a fiberglass insulation product which exhibits good recovery and rigidity, and is formaldehyde-free.
These and other objects of the present invention will become apparent to the skilled artisan upon a review of the following description and the claims appended thereto.